Item response theory (IRT) models are the main psychometric approach for the development, evaluation, and refinement of multi-item instruments and scaling of latent traits, whereas multilevel models are the primary statistical method when considering the dependence between person responses when primary units (e.g., students) are nested within…

We examined the association between peer-assessed emotional expressivity and children's status in the peer group after controlling for social behavior. Participants were 417 elementary school children (X-bar age = 10 years) from a Midwestern urban community and their teachers. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used. After controlling…

There is a dearth of research on Tier 1 instruction designed to improve the mathematics achievement of English learners. This study examined the impact of a core kindergarten mathematics curriculum on the mathematics achievement of Spanish-speaking English learners (SS-ELs). Secondary aims tested for differential response to the curriculum among…

The current study assessed 869 elementary school students in China using self-report questionnaires, to examine the multiple mediating effects of academic self-efficacy and positive academic emotions (enjoyment and relief) in the relations between teacher support and academic engagement (cognitive, behavioural and emotional aspects) within a math…

Comprehensive models of derived polymorphemic word recognition skill in developing readers, with an emphasis on children with reading difficulty (RD), have not been developed. The purpose of the present study was to model individual differences in polymorphemic word recognition ability at the item level among 5th-grade children (N = 173)…

A transition from elementary to high school represents a very profound change and a potential source of stress, as it often requires young adolescents to make significant professional decisions. This topic was the focus of the present study in which 303 Croatian students attending their final year of elementary school completed measures of career…

"The Devereux Student Strengths Assessment Mini" (DESSA-Mini) (LeBuffe, Shapiro, & Naglieri, 2014) efficiently monitors the growth of Social-Emotional Competence (SEC) in the routine implementation of Social Emotional Learning programs. The DESSA-Mini is used to assess approximately half a million children around the world. Since…

The primary goal of the current study was to test whether parent and adolescent preference for a common language moderates the association between parenting and rank-order change over time in offspring substance use. A sample of Mexican-origin 7th-grade adolescents (M[subscript age] = 12.5 years, N = 194, 52% female) was measured longitudinally on…

This study examined mathematics achievement growth of students without disabilities (SWoD) and students with learning disabilities (LD) and tested whether growth and LD status interacted with student demographic characteristics. Growth was estimated in a statewide sample of 79,554 students over Grades 3 to 7. The LD group was significantly lower…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between school leadership practices and teacher empowerment in the Finnish policy culture. Specifically, moral leadership and distributed leadership enacted by school principals are tested in a simultaneous design as predictor to two distinct yet related aspects of teachers' sense…

Policies increasing the amount of time allocated to reading instruction are popular initiatives to meet the demands of accountability testing. Research suggests that time on instruction and children's approaches to learning (ATL), which generally includes measures of attention, persistence, motivation, and flexibility, are positively associated…

Applied early adolescent researchers often sample students (Level 1) from within classrooms (Level 2) that are nested within schools (Level 3), resulting in data that requires multilevel modeling analysis to avoid Type 1 errors. Although several articles have been published to assist researchers with analyzing sample data nested at two levels, few…

This longitudinal study, conducted among a sample of Finnish primary-school children, examined the proposition that a single high-quality relationship (either with a teacher or a parent) can buffer against adjustment problems. Teachers rated the externalizing problems and prosocial behaviors of 378 children in Grade 1 and again in Grade 2.…

Numerous well-validated academic progress monitoring tools are used in schools, but there are fewer behavioral progress monitoring measures available. Some brief behavior rating scales have been shown to be effective in monitoring students' progress, but most focus only on students' social skills and do not address critical academic-related…

Numerous well validated academic progress monitoring tools are used in schools, but there are fewer behavioral progress monitoring measures available. Some brief behavior rating scales have been shown to be effective in monitoring students' progress, but most focus only on students' social skills and do not address critical academic-related…